Getting started
Publishing settings explained
Your integrations decide where articles go. The publishing settings decide when they go and whether you check them first. This page explains every setting that affects publishing, the options, the defaults, and what we recommend for a new project.
Where to find the settings
Open your project. The publishing settings appear in two places and are the same settings, so a change in one place shows in the other:
- Settings → Integrations, box Publishing Settings: Auto-publish articles, Require manual approval and Internal links per article. A change is saved as soon as you click it ("Saved" appears next to it).
- Settings → Article Settings: the same three settings plus Article language and Banner images. Here changes are saved only when you click Save changes; Reset discards them.
- Settings for one integration are on its card under Your Connections on the Integrations page: the Enabled switch, Edit, Test and Delete.
Every setting at a glance
| Setting | Options | Default | What it does | We recommend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Require manual approval | On / Off | Off | On: new articles wait as In Review until you click Approve, and new Content Plan topics are not written until you click Generate Article. Off: articles are written automatically and approved. | Off, unless someone has to sign off every article. |
| Auto-publish articles | On / Off | Off | On: approved articles are sent to every enabled integration on their planned day, without a click. Off: approved articles wait until you click Publish. | Off for your first few articles, so you read each one before clicking Publish. Then on. |
| Internal links per article | No links, 1 link to 5 links | 3 links | How many links to other pages of your site LazySEO adds to each new article, chosen from your crawled pages and other posts. | 3 links |
| Article language | 21 languages | English | The language new articles are written in. | The language of your readers |
| Banner images | On / Off | On | On: each new article gets a generated banner, which integrations use as the featured or cover image. Off: posts are published without a featured image. | On |
| Enabled (on each integration) | On / Off | On | Off: LazySEO skips this integration when publishing, both automatically and when you click Publish. The connection details are kept. | On. Switch it off to pause one destination. |
Setting
Require manual approval
- Options
- On / Off
- Default
- Off
- What it does
- On: new articles wait as In Review until you click Approve, and new Content Plan topics are not written until you click Generate Article. Off: articles are written automatically and approved.
- We recommend
- Off, unless someone has to sign off every article.
Setting
Auto-publish articles
- Options
- On / Off
- Default
- Off
- What it does
- On: approved articles are sent to every enabled integration on their planned day, without a click. Off: approved articles wait until you click Publish.
- We recommend
- Off for your first few articles, so you read each one before clicking Publish. Then on.
Setting
Internal links per article
- Options
- No links, 1 link to 5 links
- Default
- 3 links
- What it does
- How many links to other pages of your site LazySEO adds to each new article, chosen from your crawled pages and other posts.
- We recommend
- 3 links
Setting
Article language
- Options
- 21 languages
- Default
- English
- What it does
- The language new articles are written in.
- We recommend
- The language of your readers
Setting
Banner images
- Options
- On / Off
- Default
- On
- What it does
- On: each new article gets a generated banner, which integrations use as the featured or cover image. Off: posts are published without a featured image.
- We recommend
- On
Setting
Enabled (on each integration)
- Options
- On / Off
- Default
- On
- What it does
- Off: LazySEO skips this integration when publishing, both automatically and when you click Publish. The connection details are kept.
- We recommend
- On. Switch it off to pause one destination.
Tip: Internal links per article, Article language and Banner images apply to articles written after the change. Articles that already exist keep their links, language and banner.
How approval and auto-publish work together
Require manual approval decides whether you check articles. Auto-publish articles decides whether LazySEO publishes them for you. The four combinations:
| Require manual approval | Auto-publish articles | What happens to a new article | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off | Off | Written automatically on its planned day and saved as Approved. Nothing is published until you click Publish. This is the default for a new project. | Recommended start. You read every article before it goes live. |
| Off | On | Written on its planned day and published to every enabled integration straight away. No clicks. | Autopilot, once you are happy with the articles. |
| On | Off | You start each topic with Generate Article → In Review → you click Approve → you click Publish. | Full control over every post and its timing. |
| On | On | You start each topic with Generate Article → In Review → you click Approve → LazySEO publishes it on its planned day (within 15 minutes if that day has already started). | Teams where someone signs off every article before LazySEO publishes it. |
Require manual approval
Off
- Auto-publish articles
- Off
- What happens to a new article
- Written automatically on its planned day and saved as Approved. Nothing is published until you click Publish. This is the default for a new project.
- Good for
- Recommended start. You read every article before it goes live.
Require manual approval
Off
- Auto-publish articles
- On
- What happens to a new article
- Written on its planned day and published to every enabled integration straight away. No clicks.
- Good for
- Autopilot, once you are happy with the articles.
Require manual approval
On
- Auto-publish articles
- Off
- What happens to a new article
- You start each topic with Generate Article → In Review → you click Approve → you click Publish.
- Good for
- Full control over every post and its timing.
Require manual approval
On
- Auto-publish articles
- On
- What happens to a new article
- You start each topic with Generate Article → In Review → you click Approve → LazySEO publishes it on its planned day (within 15 minutes if that day has already started).
- Good for
- Teams where someone signs off every article before LazySEO publishes it.
Important: Nothing is published automatically until you turn Auto-publish articles on. With the default settings, articles wait in Approved until you click Publish.
When is an article written and published?
- Content Plan: LazySEO plans 30 topics, one per day, starting the day after the plan is made (weekends included). Click Content Plan in the sidebar to see them. On Trial and Pro plans you can drag a topic to another day.
- Writing: every hour, LazySEO writes the topics planned for that day (days follow UTC). To write one early, open the topic and click Generate Article. Topics are written in order, so a later topic shows "Generate earlier articles first" until the earlier ones exist.
- Auto-publish: every 15 minutes, LazySEO looks for Approved articles whose day has arrived and sends each one to every enabled integration. An article you wrote early with Generate Article still waits for its planned day.
- Schedule (on the article page): pick a date and time in Schedule Publish and click Confirm Schedule; the article shows the time as a badge, and Edit Schedule changes it. A schedule is used by auto-publish only: the article is published as soon as either the scheduled time or its Content Plan day has arrived, whichever comes first. With Auto-publish articles off, a schedule does nothing.
- By hand: on an Approved article, click Publish to send it to every enabled integration. In Content Plan, the upload icon on an approved topic opens Publish to, where you pick a single integration.
Important: Topics added to your plan while Require manual approval is on are drafts, and LazySEO does not write them automatically. Open each topic in Content Plan and click Generate Article.
Tip: To publish an article later than its planned day, drag its topic to a later day in Content Plan. To publish it earlier, use Schedule.
Article statuses
| Status | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Not approved yet. | Approve (or Approve & Publish when approval is off), Schedule, Edit, Regenerate |
| Generating | LazySEO is writing the article. | Wait a few minutes. |
| In Review | Written and waiting for you (Require manual approval is on). | Approve, Schedule, Edit, Regenerate |
| Approved | Ready to publish. | Publish, Schedule, Edit. With Auto-publish articles on, it goes out on its planned day. |
| Publishing | Being sent to your integrations ("Publishing in progress"). | Wait a few seconds. If it stays, click Re-send to integration, or Mark as published if the post is already live. |
| Published | Live on your site. | Update post or Re-publish to send your edits, View Published, Unpublish |
| Failed | Writing the article failed. | Regenerate |
Status
Draft
- What it means
- Not approved yet.
- What you can do
- Approve (or Approve & Publish when approval is off), Schedule, Edit, Regenerate
Status
Generating
- What it means
- LazySEO is writing the article.
- What you can do
- Wait a few minutes.
Status
In Review
- What it means
- Written and waiting for you (Require manual approval is on).
- What you can do
- Approve, Schedule, Edit, Regenerate
Status
Approved
- What it means
- Ready to publish.
- What you can do
- Publish, Schedule, Edit. With Auto-publish articles on, it goes out on its planned day.
Status
Publishing
- What it means
- Being sent to your integrations ("Publishing in progress").
- What you can do
- Wait a few seconds. If it stays, click Re-send to integration, or Mark as published if the post is already live.
Status
Published
- What it means
- Live on your site.
- What you can do
- Update post or Re-publish to send your edits, View Published, Unpublish
Status
Failed
- What it means
- Writing the article failed.
- What you can do
- Regenerate
Editing, republishing and unpublishing
- To change a published article, click Edit, save your changes, then click Update post (top bar) or Re-publish (side panel). LazySEO updates the existing post instead of creating a second one; each platform guide explains the details under "What gets published".
- Unpublish only changes the status in LazySEO back to Approved ("It will no longer appear as published"). The post stays on your site: delete or unpublish it in your platform if you want it gone.
- Regenerate is not available once an article is published, so a rewrite can't overwrite a live post.
When publishing fails
- LazySEO tries each publish up to 3 times, a few seconds apart. Auto-publish then tries again later: up to 3 rounds in total, at least an hour apart.
- After the last attempt you get a Publishing failed notification with the error, the article goes back to Approved, and the attempt appears in Sync History with its error. In Content Plan, the topic shows a red warning icon ("Publish failed — click to see details").
- Fix the cause. It is usually a changed password, key or permission: click Edit on the integration card, paste the new value and run Test.
- Then click Retry on the failed row in Sync History, or Publish on the article.
Sync History
Sync History, at the bottom of the Integrations page, is the log of everything LazySEO sent to your integrations.
- It shows the last 50 publish attempts in the project, newest first, and refreshes every 30 seconds. Click Refresh to update it right away.
- Each row shows the article, the integration, the HTTP status your platform answered with and how long it took. Click a row to see the Request body, the Response body and the Error.
- Retry (on a failed row) or Resend (on a successful one) sends the article to that integration again. Sending again updates the existing post.
- Mark synced marks a failed row as done, without sending anything. Use it when you published that post yourself.
Managing an integration
- The switch on the card is the Enabled setting. A disabled card is greyed out and skipped when publishing.
- Edit opens the form again. Saved passwords, tokens and keys are hidden: leave them as they are to keep them, or paste a new value to replace them. Changing the destination URL of a Webhook or Custom API asks you to enter its secrets again.
- Test → Quick test ("Check endpoint is reachable") checks the connection without posting. Test → Full test ("Send a test blog post (draft)") asks you to confirm, then sends a draft test post.
- Delete removes the integration after you confirm ("This cannot be undone."). Posts it already published stay on your site.
- The card shows Last used with a date after a successful test or publish, or Never used.
Troubleshooting
Articles are approved, but nothing is published.
Fix: Turn on Auto-publish articles, check that at least one integration is Enabled, and check that the article's planned day has arrived (LazySEO checks every 15 minutes). Or click Publish on the article.
New topics in Content Plan are not being written.
Fix: Topics added while Require manual approval was on are drafts. Open each topic in Content Plan and click Generate Article.
An article stays on "Publishing in progress".
Fix: Refresh the page after a minute. If it is still publishing, click Re-send to integration and check the newest row in Sync History. If the post is already on your site, click Mark as published.
A scheduled article was published before the time I picked.
Fix: Auto-publish uses whichever comes first: the scheduled time or the article's Content Plan day. To publish later than the planned day, drag the topic to a later day in Content Plan.
Posts are published without a featured image.
Fix: Banner images was off when the article was written, or the platform could not import the image. Turn Banner images on in Settings → Article Settings and check the platform guide.
Frequently asked questions
Which settings do you recommend for a new project?
Start with the defaults: Require manual approval off and Auto-publish articles off, Internal links per article at 3 links and Banner images on. LazySEO writes every topic for you and each article waits until you click Publish. When you are happy with the articles, turn Auto-publish articles on and LazySEO publishes them on their planned day.
Do I need to keep LazySEO open for scheduled publishing?
No. Writing and publishing run on LazySEO's servers, whether or not you are signed in.
What time of day are articles published?
Content Plan days follow UTC. With Auto-publish articles on, an approved article is published within about 15 minutes of the start of its planned day, or as soon as it is written and approved on that day. Use Schedule to publish an approved article earlier than its planned day, at a time you choose.
If I change a setting, does it affect articles that already exist?
Require manual approval affects articles written after the change. Auto-publish articles and Enabled take effect at the next check, for all approved articles. Internal links, language and banner images apply to new articles only.
Still stuck?
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